


Cascade of Small Discoveries

by IscaRedspider



Series: Sparkpulse AU [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Bee is a good boy!, Gen, he's doing his best!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27840844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IscaRedspider/pseuds/IscaRedspider
Summary: Bumblebee is now officially joined Autobots and getting adjusted to his new life. Getting to know others (especially Windblade), training sessions with Jazz, and even a few first missions.During this time the yellow minibot gets to learn about himself a bit more, and he ended up discovering something he did not expect.
Relationships: Bumblebee & Windblade (Transformers)
Series: Sparkpulse AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021447
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Cascade of Small Discoveries

A tiny car is speeding through the remaining roads on Cybertron. The newly joined Autobot, Bumblebee, is feeling quite pleased with himself because he gathered all necessary information in Iacon’s lost sector 3-B as it was requested by his superior, Jazz.

Bumblebee is getting adjusted to his life among Autobots. After Windblade showed him around and introduced him to the other Autobots, Optimus Prime gave Bumblebee an Autobot insignia, then assigned him to a new position. It was clear that he cannot be on the frontlines - his fragile body and lack of strength won't really do any good for him in the middle of a fierce battle, so Optimus assigned Bumblebee to Jazz’s Special Operation Department - to be a spy and scout.

Bumblebee quickly made friends with almost everyone there.

Jazz is super chill and laidback, something he probably wouldn’t expect from his superior, but he doesn’t mind at all. In fact, it makes it easier for Bumblebee to get into the job. Jazz is really nice to him, teaching the minibot all the tricks and sharing his experience.

Blaster, the Communications Officer, welcomed him with open arms and Bumblebee even made friends with a few of his cassettes such as Rewind and Eject. Others, like Steeljaw, seem to be wary of him. That’s okay though, Bumblebee is sure that they will warm up to him eventually.

Even Mirage, one of the most skilled Special Operation agents, who others warned the minibot that he was once a noble and doesn’t like anybody, Bumblebee does not sense any hostility. They don’t bother each other and it seems like Mirage is appreciating that.

After the introductions, Jazz began training Bumblebee, and the minibot worked hard to impress his new comrades. He’s doing well, even completed a few real scouting missions and one simple infiltration. 

As Bumblebee got close to the base, his open commlink came to life.  
  
“Bumblebee, you're there?!” that came from Jazz, sounding concerned.

“Yes, I’m here!” he quickly replies. “Is something happening?”

“You disappeared from our radars earlier again.” Jazz sighs, which makes Bumblebee a bit anxious as he’s not close enough to feel if Jazz is angry with him or not. “Was it another forced reboot?”

“Y-yeah...sorry about that!” he quietly replies. Those forced reboots are caused by his spark when the pulse gets erratic. For unknown reasons the spark sends too many and too powerful impulses that overwhelm his system, shutting him down for 5 minutes.

“Hey, you can’t control this, pal. So don’t feel bad!” Jazz reassures him, at least that means that the Special Ops commander isn’t mad with him. “Besides, I’m sure Ratchet’s already figured this out, right?” Jazz sounds hopeful, but Bumblebee doesn’t get his hopes high. Ratchet already tried multiple treatments. They seem to lessen the symptoms but they never went away. “I’m gonna check this out, while you get to safety first! Jazz out.”

The comm went quiet, and Bumblebee continued driving in silence until he reached the busted bridge that was supposed to go over a big chasm. He knows this place, so he is already taking an alternate route.

Bumblebee transforms into his root form and continues running on all fours, using the momentum from driving to take a big jump off the bridge.

Then he thrusts his right arm forward, a section on the forearm opens and shoots a long cable. The head of the cable attaches itself to part of the bridge remains, allowing Bumblebee to swing forward. When this swing ends, he thrusts his left arm, repeating the same thing, while the cable of the right hand detaches and returns to his arm.  
  
Bumblebee smiles widely, he absolutely loves swinging. It feels like flying and feels nostalgic in a way he cannot explain. 

After he crosses the chasm, he transforms into car mode and continues driving through the ruined city. The sight of broken buildings and plazas makes him sad. Cybertron is in terrible shape from what he saw during his missions, and he still cannot fully understand why this war started in the first place. 

He asked multiple Autobots, including Optimus himself, but all of them told him the same tale: once cybertronians realized they were running out of important resources that sustain their life, they turned to the stars, looking for planets that contain such reserves. They found one 70 light-years away from them and everyone thought it was their salvation. But later it turned out this planet was inhabited with other biometallic lifeforms and taking all those resources would cause extinction.

This is when society shattered. Megatron believed that they must take those resources because they are stronger and by nature’s law the stronger must survive. Optimus (or Orion back then) disagreed, believing that as sentient beings they cannot just sacrifice those lifeforms for the sake of their own and they must keep looking.

Bumblebee is skeptical and finds it hard to believe that this was the full reason. As Optimus told him, Megatron used to be such a noble activist, together they liberated cybertronian society from cages of functionism - a terrible caste system based on the alt form that killed any individuality and abolished freedom, while the elite kept profiting from people's suffering.

So why would Megatron, who worked so hard to make Cybertron a better place, take a u-turn and destroy all of this? There has to be more to this, but seems like even Optimus himself is at a loss.

As Bumblebee gets close to the Autobot Stronghold, he sighs. One day he hopes to find the answer, but right now he must focus on helping his fellow Autobots to survive…and maybe take them all away from this dead shell of the planet.

* * *

Bumblebee walks through corridors of the stronghold, looking for Jazz. Assuming that he’s in medbay like he mentioned earlier, Bumblebee takes another turn. The door to medbay was opened and he can hear the voices of Windblade, Jazz and Ratchet. 

“C’mon, can’t you just open his spark chamber and see what's wrong with it?” Jazz whines.

“If it was that easy, I would have done this already!” Ratchet bark in frustration.” His spark chamber is sealed shut unless I cut it open. In fact, as I only recently found out, the spark monitor only detects Bumblebee’s sparkpulse because it catches the pulsation of his energon lines caused by the spark, but not the pulsation of his spark itself!”

“Oh.” If Jazz's optics were visible behind his visor, everyone could see how much they widened in surprise. “I suppose it’s not a good idea to mess with it.”

Ratchet only nods. “It’s built like this for a reason, I will not touch it unless his spark is in danger.”

“At least this new medicine will help him, right?” Windblade speaks this time, she’s been worried sick about Bumblebee’s condition. 

“I cannot say for sure. But I hope at least it will give him more time to hide if it happens during missions.” Ratchet concludes.

Well, enough standing by, “And what kind of medicine?” Bumblebee enters the medbay. 

“Bee!” Windblade greets him first.

“So, how long have ya been eavesdropping, huh?” Jazz grins at him. “Seems yer putting your training to practice!”

“Just a tiny bit I promise!” Bee laughs, as he barely connects his thumb and index fingers to show how little he was listening, though it was a bit of an understatement.

Ratchet smiles and shakes his head at Bumblebee’s antics, then he pulls 3 syringes from his storage unit, filled with something. “Here, those syringes are filled with medical-grade energon with nanomachines that are specifically crafted to ease your erratic sparkpulses.”

As Bumblebee takes them from him, Ratchet continues, “Once you start getting 2 pulses per cycle, inject one into your energon lines. Report to me of any effects, or no effects later.”

Bumblebee nods. “Will do, Ratchet! Thank you.”

Windblade is still feeling concerned though, Bumblebee turns his head to the side as he looks up at her, “Blade?”

“Even if it would give you more time to hide, you still can be randomly found by Decepticons…” she trails off, but Bumblebee could understand where she’s going.

“Don't worry! As I can sense sparks, I know exactly where everyone is. So I can take into account their moving patterns during their shifts, and find a perfect hiding spot that I know won’t be disclosed during my 5 minute break. So I’ve got this!” he smiles proudly, he knows that nobody can catch him. 

There was a moment of silence before all 3 Autobots exclaimed “YOU CAN DO WHAT?!” in unison. He blinks at them. “Um, sensing sparks? You know, feeling pulsations and frequency and such?”

Another moment of silence and now 3 different expressions forming on each of the Autobots faces. 

Windblade is smiling widely, holding her fists under her chin. She’s so excited.

Jazz staring at him while his mouth parts into an “o” shape. He’s surprised.

Ratchet’s face and spark are both filled with confusion.

“You…” Ratchet was the one to break the silence. “You have an ESPER and you never told us?”

“Esper?” Bumblebee tilts his head to the side again.

“It stands for ‘ **E** xtraordinary **S** ettings of **P** aranatural **E** me **R** gence’, meaning you're someone with a rare set of special abilities that pretty much almost no one has.” Jazz explains.

“Yes, like me, I can do cool stuff like telepathy!” Windblade wiggles her fingers for emphasis.

“Oh!” the realization hits the little spy “I just thought everyone could do this! It feels like another sense, like sight or hearing.”

“BEE! If anyone could sense sparks, there would be no war!”Jazz bursts into laughter, while Windblade and Ratchet smile in amusement.

“What's it like? Tell us more!” Windblade now is very curious.

“Well, I sense sparks around me, like I feel their pulses.” Bumblebee thinks for a moment, trying to figure out how to describe the next part. “Then if I focus, I can feel what others feel? Like Windblade is super excited right now, Jazz is amused and Ratchet...um, has a lot of mixed feelings?”

The expressions that the three gave him suggested that he was correct. “That’s very impressive Bumblebee!” Ratchet spoke, sighing in relief. “I’m glad at least I know about this now and not later because otherwise, I could harm you by an accident if I’m unaware of your specifics.”

“Or something might explode!” Jazz laughs, which earned a glare from Ratchet. “Did you know that one time Optimus had a surgery on his arm, and something triggered his pyrokinetics that set medbay on fire!”

“Wow, really!” Bumblebee exclaims. “I hope no one was injured or something.”

“It was a mild case, so we had it under control.” Ratchet sighs, still glaring at Jazz, who keeps grinning back at him. “But yes, that was the case that unexpected things might happen if I’m treating someone with paranatural abilities. Though the medicine still should be fine in this case, as its function is to calm your spark, no less, no more.”

Bumblebee nods. “Alright! I’ll go to the cafeteria to catch some energon. Wanna come?”

“Yes, let’s go.” Windblade agrees. 

“I got some more work to do, so not for now.” Ratchet replies.

“I got some matters to attend as well.” Jazz says as well. “I'll collect you later, as I planned a special training for you today. Let’s see how you utilize your spark sense as well~”

Bumblebee smiles. “Alright, see you later! Don't overwork yourselves you two, okay?” After those words, Bumblebee and Windbalde left for the cafeteria.

* * *

“Does anyone else have an ESPER?” Bumblebee asks as they enter the empty cafeteria.

“As far as I know, Ratchet and Windcharger can create and control magnetic fields, Optimus Prime has pyrokinesis, and you probably saw Mariage turning invisible.” she pauses for a moment. “Then among Decepticons, there are Rainmakers who can control the weather, Skywarp who can teleport...” she trailed off as it’s not easy to differentiate those who were gifted special abilities from heavy, and often questionable modifications.

“I see! You know what, tell me more, Blade!” Bumblebee exclaims as they sit by the corner table with their energon cubes. “What is telepathy like?”  
Windblade giggles at Bumblebee's excitement. “In general, telepathy is a power to read and project to the thoughts of others. It can be used, for example, in communication!” she takes a sip of energon before she continues, “Imagine an open commlink, except you send messages directly into someone’s mind. They cannot be heard by anyone else, nor be intercepted.” 

Then she focused her grip on the minibot's processor. ‘Like this!’ Bumblebee’s eyes widen when he hears Windblade’s voice in his mind.

“This is so cool!” Windblade swears she can see stars in his optics. “Can you do anything else? Can you read minds?!”

“In fact, I can!” she exclaims, just to see his excitement grow. “Though I need to focus thoughtfully to hear them. And I can also fully project myself to the minds of others!“ 

Bumblebee is practically vibrating in his seat, completely forgetting about energon as he listens. “But this will require my full concentration, so I don't do this often. Plus the other's mind can be a pretty messed up and dangerous place.” her tone darkens at the end. 

‘Especially minds like Shockwave’s…’ Bumblebee thought, as he nods in understanding.“Does anyone else have telepathy?”

Windblade didn't answer immediately, as she stared at her energon cube. Bumblebee frowns a bit, he’s sensing that question did upset her.

“A long time ago, Cityspeakers used to be renowned for having such powers. We were the only ones who could communicate directly with dormant titans: large cybertronians who usually transformed into spaceships, space stations, or even entire cities!” she explains, then her expression saddens. “Until right before this war started, suddenly, we became hunted and executed!”

Bumblebee’s optics widens in horror, “FOR WHAT?!” he practically yells, which makes him grateful that they are the only ones in the cafeteria right now.

“I don't know. The only thing I heard that Cityspeakers were contacted by someone...and some of the elites didn't like that apparently…” she trails off, as Bumblebee scoots closer to give her a hug. “I...guess I was fortunate to be forged much later to miss those hunts. But when I came online, the war was already raging. I was only one Cityspeaker left, and the last titan, Camien, had perished.”

Windblade sighs, as she leans into Bumblebee's embrace to return it. “I’m the last Cityspeaker, with no city to speak to.”

“I’m so sorry, Windblade.” he says quietly, feeling her sorrow as his own.

After a moment of silence, she speaks softly, “Bee, the way you described your power really made me think that you and I are very similar. Maybe back then, with the right training, you could become a Cityspeaker too!”

She closes her optics for a moment, Bumblebee feels her sorrow being lifted.“ It feels nice to have a kindred spirit, you know?”

He gives her a warm smile, as she smiles back, a sudden thought enters his processor.

“Now I wonder, can I communicate as you do...but like, I guess, with spark?” he asks, now super curious about the extent of his abilities.

“We can try to find out!” she beams with excitement now. “I don't know how you might do this, but I can suggest to take a mental grip on my spark and try to toss a message here!”

Bumblebee nods and focuses on Windblade’s spark. Though the focusing part isn't hard, figuring out whatever she meant by getting a grip centrally is!

“Take your time.” she reassures him as she notices a frustrated expression forming on his face.

Bumblebee tried again, trying whatever interpretation of the “grip” he can imagine. Then, suddenly, it felt like he established a connection! The minibot looks at Windblade, who seems unaware of this, as she sipping her energon. 

Well, time to try this out!

‘Can you hear me?’ he asks her with his spark, sending the message down to the connection. This action also made her almost choke with energon as her optics widened.

“Whoops, sorry! Are you okay?!” he quickly hurries over.

“Bee! That was….” she cuts herself off, trying to find a word to describe it, but can’t. “I don't know how to describe it! You asked me if I can hear you, right?”

“YES!” he almost jumped from his seat. “I did it, yay!”

“You did indeed! And it was so strange, I heard no voice, no words, but I got a feeling and I understood what it meant! And I knew it came from you.”

“Hey, what you two are being excited about, eh?” Jazz chirps as he enters the cafeteria.

“JAZZ!” Bumblebee smiles widely, “I learned something cool just now!”

“Oho, tell me!” Jazz grins as he walks over.

Bumblebee instantly rushes to repeat the same process with Jazz, but for some reason, he just couldn't form a solid connection. Now the yellow minibot is panicking, he can't just disappoint his superior!

“We just discovered that Bumblebee can communicate with others via spark like I can do via mind.” Thankfully, Windblade jumped in when she noticed him struggling as he did before,” He just needs proper training.”

“Hooo, that sounds amazing!” Jazz clasps his hands together, grinning. “I imagine you already up for this task, aren’t you?”

“You bet~” she singsongs in return.

“Alright Bee, I’ll be waiting for you on training grounds, see you soon!” Jazz announces and walks out of the room.

Bumblebee quickly drinks his energon cube and gets up. “Thanks, Blade, I’ll see you later!”

“Happy training, Bee!”

* * *

The special training went exceedingly well, Jazz was pleased with Bumblebee’s performance, though the minibot felt like he did something wrong. He was training with Steeljaw and apparently, something transpired during this session...but he has no idea what. The orange cassette was very uneasy around Bumblebee after that.

Well, he decided to not dwell on things he doesn't know. Now the yellow minibot was free and he decided to go exploring. Jazz told him that he must always be aware of his surroundings and know his way around, so why not use this opportunity to map the Autobot stronghold. 

After all, no one knows if they’ll be under attack tomorrow and the ability to quickly get to places can be a matter of life and death.

Currently, the minibot is trotting through vents, mapping the various stronghold locations and vent exits. His size and changing composure makes it easy for him to move around tight spaces on all fours. And vents provide such amazing shortcuts! If normally walking from the cafeteria to training grounds would take around 8 minutes, through vents he can reach his destination in 3 minutes! Such a timesaver.

As Bumblebee proceeds, he feels as he gets closer to the group of sparks below him, he can recognize two for sure: Jazz and Steeljaw. The other two must be Ratchet and Optimus. And another one he’s not sure who. Checking his map with a stronghold blueprint, Bumblebee realized that he should be near Optimus Prime’s office.

A bit further and he hears voices talking. Bumblebee stops right by another vent exit, carefully peeks down, and yep: Optimus Prime, Jazz, Steeljaw, Ratchet, and...is this Prowl? It must be him! Bumblebee hasn't met him yet, but Jazz sure told the minibot about the serious second in command.

“...basically imagine whoever initiated his forging went like ‘hey let’s make this lil’ bugger as mobile as possible!’ and Bumblebee is a result!” Jazz says.

Huh, they are talking about him. What’s up with Bumblebee, stumbling upon others discussing him today? Weird, but now the curiosity is sparking, so he stays to eavesdrop. Again.

“Seriously Prime, I never saw anyone have so many mobility options. Aside from his small vehicle mode, he also has cables that he can use to swing around like some sort of arachnid creature.” Jazz continues with his report. 

“Indeed, scans also showed he has another set of cables, installed in both of his legs.” Ratchet adds. 

“Why does he even need those?” Prowl questions, feeling confused. 

“To scare the pit out of you as he hangs from the ceiling for sure!” Jazz bursts into laughter. Bumblebee smiles, ah yes that tiny prank he pulled earlier.

Bumblebee was hanging down from a vent exit, he saw Jazz standing alone, looking for something on his datapad. A mischievous idea formed in the minibot's mind as he lowered himself on the level of Jazz's head. Then Bumblebee blocked Jazz's visor with hands from behind and whispered "Boo!" into his audials. 

Jazz yelped and jumped away. Seeing Bumblebee’s upside down grin, made him grin back. "Ahhh, alright, you got me, you lil' rascal!" and both of them laughed.

Then Ratchet’s voice brought back Bumblebee’s attention.

"I also noticed a rather interesting structure of his legs...as if they were supposed to shorten." Ratchet continues.

"Ah yes, I saw that happen - it's for quadrupedal movement! He often uses such a way of transportation in tight places like vents. Or in transition between transformations. Or if he stumbles. The list is endless and it’s effective if he wants to keep the momentum going and never stop. Add to this an excellent sense of balance and awareness of space around him I would say that was a right call to place him into Special Ops, Prime." Jazz finished his report. 

The Autobot’s leader nods in agreement, pleased with his decision. 

"Your report says that he has ESPER?" Prowl begins, as he quickly reads a thorough report on the datapad. 

"Yep, the ability to sense sparks in this case! Meaning he knows the location of any cybertronian in his vicinity and he knows how to utilize this knowledge, right Steeljaw?" Jazz turns towards the orange feline-like cassette who hasn't said a single word yet.

"Are you alright, Steeljaw? You have been quiet for the entire meeting and it is not like you." Optimus asks, concerned. 

"I'm okay, I just can't stop thinking about that last training." The cassette says quietly. 

Bumblebee frowns. He can sense anxiety bubbling in Steeljaw’s spark. The special training was about various scenarios if the minibot would have an encounter with one of Soundwave's cassettes, especially Ravage, in vents. 

Steeljaw was pretending to be Ravage, chasing Bumblebee around. The minibot successfully avoided him every time and even managed to "subdue" him. Of course, Bumblebee didn't harm his cassette comrade, but what if he did by accident?!

Slag, alright, next thing on the list: apologize to Steeljaw!

"C'mon, buddy! Did lil' Bee scare you that much?" Jazz asks in a reassuring tone. 

"You don't understand! You haven't seen his face!" Steeljaw suddenly bursts, now glaring at everyone. "When he caught me, the expression he was wearing wasn't something that would belong to a novice. That was the face of a cold and calculating predator that will end you before you scream!"

"Woah!" Jazz quickly raises his hands at the outburst. "I mean, sure, he can sneak up on everyone, but it's not like his stingers are strong enough to do any serious damage."

"To armor? Yes, it can't. But when he pounced on me, I could feel the tip of his stinger being shoved right UNDER my helm and electricity cracking! He didn't shoot, of course, but you DO understand what it means?!" Steeljaw explains frantically. "Bumblebee knows what he's doing!"

"Oh Primus, he can easily shock the processor that way. Even the smallest power setting would be enough to knock out any of us." Ratchet says in realization. 

A silence hangs in the room. Bumblebee had no idea! He was so pleased with the fact he finished the training so well that he didn't pay attention to how Steeljaw was feeling. 

That makes him feel bad, though he knows he acted just like Jazz was teaching him. There is no time for hesitation in the war, and Bumblebee must think on his feet. Steeljaw was blocking his exit, so it was a logical course of action to knock out the cassette to escape. 

Well, he will definitely apologize to Steeljaw later.

"Sounds like Decepticons weren't trying to make the strongest warrior, but an assassin." Prowl was first to break the silence.

"I don't know, that does not sound like a Megatron thing to do." Optimus is skeptical. Sure, someone initiated Bumblebee's creation but it can't be him. 

"Maybe Soundwave wanted some variety after using the same 5 cassettes over millions of years?" Jazz suggested.

"Then Bumblebee would be a cassette and he would be loyal to Soundwave no matter what." Steeljaw quickly debunks that.

"Perhaps it was Shockwave." Ratchet spoke. " After all, Bumblebee appears to have a history with the mad scientist. And every time his name gets mentioned, Bumblebee’s optics darken.”

In fact, it was happening right now in vents, as Bumblebee feels anger that could probably burn anything in the vicinity to a crisp. He cannot help it, even if he doesn't remember. The memories may be gone, but the feelings stayed and haunting him. 

But Shockwave isn't here, there is no reason to seethe, so the minibot forces his anger down. 

“You know what, better not think about it!” Jazz shivers a bit, everyone knows what kind of mad scientist the cyclopic Decepticon is. “Better to keep an optic on lil’ Bee, right?”

“Indeed, he is young and eager, and will need guidance.” Optimus agrees with his third in command.

After that, they talked a bit about random stuff and the meeting ended. Bumblebee carefully stepped over the vent exit and continued his stroll through the vents. Though he wasn't really paying attention to his maps, he couldn't stop thinking about Steeljaw.

He was told that this cassette, while being small, is a fierce warrior whose bite will make his enemies regret everything. And yet Bumblebee scared him to the core. 

But why did his actions have such an effect? He wasn't doing anything special. Sure, he knew about a weak spot, but any other soldier would possess such knowledge.

Suddenly he has a thought that made him stop. What if... it’s because no one expected him to be like that? Many Autobots said that he looked cute, soft, and friendly like he wouldn’t hurt a cyberfly. What if they saw him as someone weak and innocent, someone they must protect because he can't protect himself while in reality he can easily go and murder everyone in this stronghold.

The last thought actually frightened him. No, he cannot bring himself to kill. Not even a Decepticon. Not even Megatron….well, Shockwave could be an exception, but still!

Bumblebee slowly walks forward, now exploring this idea in his mind. 

His looks are deceiving, and shaking this image creates so much dissonance. What if Bumblebee can turn this into a weapon? He wants to be useful and prove himself, he wants this war to end, he wants to set his friends free! 

What if he can plant fear into Decepticons’ sparks? This might give Autobots an advantage!

And the best part? He doesn't need to kill in order to do so. Oh no, he needs his victims to be alive to help him to sow the seeds of terror among his enemies.

Bumblebee is back to trotting again, feeling inspired by this idea.

Yes, this shall be interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to KittyKatzVillage for proofreading.  
> And other special thanks to my friend for helping me to figure out ESPER acronym!
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!  
> More oneshots to come. I also made a sketch for this ( and previous) oneshot that you can find on Tumblr and Twitter. I'm @/IscaRedspider pretty much everywhere :D
> 
> See you next time <3


End file.
